Move Your Money

Today is the first day of the Move Your Money campaign. I’m going to move my money on the 23rd of March because I’m tired of upholding a system that exploits the poorest and invests in weapons and fossil fuels instead of communities and renewables.

The campaign is calling for all of us to move our money from the five big banking groups into local, mutual and ethical alternatives. There is a large network of Credit Unions, Building Societies, Ethical Banks and Community Development Finance Institutions in this country that keep our money safe, so plenty of options to choose from.

“Change and progress are preceded by action, individual and collective, and local banking systems thrive when we support them. Since the financial crisis the alternative sector has grown considerably. Several ethical banks have seen their balance sheets double, and savings in credit unions increased by 300% over the last decade. In the US, 10 million people have moved to local financial institutions since 2010.

Move Your Money isn’t about ‘bringing down’ the big banks (they can do that just fine by themselves, thank you). This is about strengthening the alternatives and creating a more diverse system that works in the interest of wider society”